About the Book

Aubriel has always admired the paladin Elston, but when it comes time for him to choose between her and the treasure she unwittingly leads him to, he chooses the treasure. Elston’s betrayal puts Aubriel in the path of a powerful fey lord whose invasion of her dreams assures Aubriel that he has plans for her. But she refuses to be used again. Unable to return home with the possibility of facing Elston there, Aubriel follows Lord Callannon Thray to a realm of great magic and even greater danger. When Callannon arrives to defend his treasure, he’s surprised to find a beautiful elven woman already defending it for him. Aubriel is everything he’s wanted but failed to find in a fey woman-but there’s one problem: she’s mortal. When she agrees to go with him to the fey realm, Callannon has no choice but to hide her mortality to protect her from those who would use her against him. The captain of the king’s guard is one such person, and she won’t rest until she sees Callannon stripped of everything he has.

Interview

Can you tell us a little about yourself and your background?

Individually, we’ve both been enamored with fantasy since we were young and have kept it in our lives through varies means: books, movies, tabletop games, and more. We both have a passion for stories, regardless of medium, and have enjoyed too many to count over the years. We each discovered that we have the urge to create stories as well as enjoy them.

As a husband and wife, we found ourselves drawn to romance the more we focused on and built our relationship together. We began creating fantasy together, and romance naturally budded from it. Rather than trying to remove the romance to focus on the fantasy, we embraced the romance, and our writing is the better for it.

What inspired you to write?

We find inspiration from many places: our relationships, personal experiences, other stories, etc. It’s handy to be coauthors because we can always inspire and encourage each other when one of us gets stuck in the writing process. Writing is our creative outlet, and knowing that we did something we’ve each always wanted to do and that we can share it makes us want to do it all over again!

What inspired your novel?

At first, we just talked with each other about the kind of story we’d like to read. At the time, we didn’t know of many books that focused on developing a relationship past the falling in love stage for a significant amount of time. This led to many conversations that eventually transformed from a simple story line to characters and twists and turns. We just kept building on our conversations until we were happy with the result.

What is the genre?

Exchanged is a fantasy romance that dabbles in erotica.

What draws you to this genre?

We’ve both always loved fantasy, and the combination of fantasy and romance is the area that our interests intersect. We both love writing, and this common ground allows us to write together.

How did you develop your plot and your characters?

Once we went from just talking about the story to committing to write it down, we used something called the snowflake method. This method helped us get out the basics on paper (so to speak) and build on them until we had a comprehensive story with detailed character outlines. By prepping Exchanged in this way, it helped to keep us both on the same page (literally and figuratively).

What inspired your protagonist?

Aubriel and Callannon were inspired by our desire to see relatable characters who change and grow over time. Some of our hopes and desires, such as seeing people grow together in a healthy way despite adversity are reflected in them.

What inspired your antagonist?

The hardships we dealt with at the time we created the story. Whether new or old, we used difficulties that were on our mind in part of the creation process. The antagonists took shape and evolved the further into the story we planned, but their roots came from our experiences.

What was the hardest part to write in the book?

The beginning of the ballroom scene. It became easier the further we got into rewrites, but we tore that poor scene entrance apart and put it back together more than a few times.

What was your favourite part of your book to write?

Vanessa: For me, I loved writing from the character POVs that didn’t show up as often. It was fun to get in their heads and show the story from their perspective.

Dante: The best parts for me were the character interactions, particularly those with Oberon and seeing Callannon and Aubriel develop together over the course of the story.

Are you a full time or a part time writer? If part time, what do you do besides write?

Part time, although we’d love to be full time. Dante technically is a full time writer, but his day job requires writing of a more technical nature. Vanessa is currently working at a library and loving every moment of it.

What are you currently reading?

We’re on the second book in The Bridei Chronicles, Blade of Fortriu. Vanessa has also been working her way through the Tairen Soul series. There are so many good books out there and not enough time!

Who would you say are your favourite authors?

For Vanessa, Jennifer Fallon is a long-time favorite and Grace Draven is a newer favorite. Dante also enjoys both of Vanessa’s authors, but also has a soft spot for Douglas Adams.

How about your favourite books? What would be your top 5?

That’s tough! We’re going to cheat a little by including a few series.

1. The Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien

2. The Sugar Queen by Sarah Addison Allen

3. The Demon Child Trilogy by Jennifer Fallon

4. Wraith Kings series by Grace Draven

5. Magic: The Gathering (Artifacts Cycle through Invasion Cycle) was a childhood indulgence for Dante

Extra credit: The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams

What are your future projects, if any?

We have a short story and another book that we’re working on currently. Both are fantasy romance, although the book dips a bit into the adventure pool as well. We’re looking to release the short story over the summer and the book by January 2018.

What is your preferred method for readers to get in touch with you and your books?

Our website is the best place to get to know us and receive news about projects, and it’s the easiest place to find information on our books. Facebook and Twitter are close seconds. Both Dante and Vanessa are active on Goodreads as well.

Interview

Can you tell us a little about yourself and your background?

I am from Detroit, Michigan and I am a huge Detroit Tigers fan. My degrees are all in social work and I have dedicated the last fifteen years to promoting social change. I advocate for women’s rights, hunger, and autism. live in Texas now with my husband and two boys, one of which is on the spectrum. I incorporate all of these things into my writing. I even have a character with autism for my Book Cellar Series.

What inspired you to write?

Okay, you’re going to laugh at this one. Twenty years ago, I was hard core obsessed with the show The X-Files. I loved the writing and wanted to write my own FBI book, but without the paranormal twist. So I started what is now called, Red on the Run, my award winning first in Trilogy book.

What inspired your novel?

The last book in my Trilogy was inspired by medical mysteries, which I have always been a fan of. I enjoy writing about doctors and nurses. I even have a nurse that I collaborate with to make sure that all of my information is correct. Dr. Zander Ride is nothing like his parents, but is still one of my favorite characters.

Here’s the blurb:

The Son—born to save them all.

Dr. Zander Ride grew up a son of The Syndicate, his fate as a career criminal all but sealed. With the help of his mother, he escaped a life of crime… until the night he heard The Syndicate had shot his mother in cold blood.

Zander soon finds refuge in the hands of his mother’s hacktivist group, who want his help bringing down the notorious group once and for all. But it comes with a cost. Managed by a different leader and guided by a new deadly mission, the hacktivists force Zander to confront the truth about his parents and the sacrifices they made for the cause.

In the end, Zander must decide how far he’s willing to go and what he’s willing to sacrifice. Can a child born of The Syndicate bring it all down, or will he be another pointless sacrifice in their struggle for money and power?

Fans of Criminal Minds, NCIS, and Robin Cook will be thrilled with this fast paced Trilogy.

What is the genre?

The genre for this series is Suspense. Because it takes place in the future it also has a touch of speculative in it as well as romantic elements. But at its core it is suspense.

What draws you to this genre?

I love writing stories that have my readers on the edge of their seat. It’s what I have always enjoyed reading, too.

How did you develop your plot and your characters?

The main characters in my series have all been inspired by strangers I meet or from TV shows, like the X-Files. The main man of the first book in series is loosely based off of Mulder from the X-Files. So I start off with a basic idea of the characters and then I map out their progression through each book with a kind of bell curve diagram.

What inspired your protagonist?

I wanted to have a “normal” character to offset the tragically flawed ones that I have written previously. I enjoy the idea of having two wild parents having a cool, calm, and collective kid. I have a background in psychology and have always been interested in nature vs. nurture. I also wanted to have the majority of the story take place in a hospital and thought it would be fun to have a doctor character.

What inspired your antagonist?

I have two antagonist. One that is the obvious bad guy, who feels justified in his actions. He wants to take everyone down and do it in a very scary way. The other antagonist is the vigilante justice guy. The one who wants to stop the bad guy, but doesn’t always want to do things within the letter of the law. It’s fun to have a gradation of bad and touch of the question of what is justified and what isn’t.

What was the hardest part to write in the book?

The hardest part for me is always the 30k word mark. I always struggle with all of my books at this point.

What was your favourite part of your book to write?

I love to write the end. I usually write the end scene first and work backwards.

Are you a full time or a part time writer? If part time, what do you do besides write?

I am a full time mom, part time fundraiser, and part time writer. I am always on the go.

What are you currently reading?

My nine year old and I are reading all things Rick Riordan. We just finished the Percy Jackson series. Sooo good!

Who would you say are your favourite authors?

My all time favorite author, and awesome human is Joyce Maynard. She works really hard, writes brilliant stories, and is one of the nicest people. She inspires me to keep going. I also love all things Margaret Atwood, Ann Patchett, and Barbara Kiingsolver. Old school authors would be: Stienbeck, Austen, and Alcott.

How about your favourite books? What would be your top 5?

This is such a hard question. Off the top of my head, here is the list:

East of Eden

Pride and Prejudice

Truth & Beauty

The Poisonwood Bible

Blind Assassin

What are your future projects, if any?

I am working on a 1970’s romantic thriller trilogy that will come out at the end of the year. I am also working on the Syndicate-born Trilogy prequel.

What is your preferred method for readers to get in touch with you and your books?

Take your time and don’t rush to get your work out there. Make sure it has a professional (to market) cover and make sure it has been edited by a person who has experience editing your specific genre. Also, read as many craft books and belong to as many groups of authors as you can. No one gets there alone. Your fellow authors can be a big help to you and a wonderful resource to learn from. Slow and steady wins the race. Remember that. 🙂

About the Book

Loves big and small, crimes forgiven or avenged. These are the themes that drive the eleven diverse stories in this new collection of psychological suspense from storyteller V.S. Kemanis.

Meet the husband and wife team Rosemary and Reuben, master chefs known to sprinkle a dash of magic into every dish. Lucille Steadman, a dazed retiree who can’t explain why she’s left her husband, only to discover, too late, the meaning of love and commitment in the most surprising place. Franklin DeWitt, an esteemed ballet critic who witnesses—or abets?—a bizarre criminal plot to topple a beautiful Soviet ballerina. Rosalyn Bleinstorter, a washed-up defense attorney whose stubborn belief in her own street savvy leads her unwittingly into a romantic and criminal association with an underworld figure.

These are just a few of the colorful characters you’ll get to know in these pages, where all is fair in love and crime. While the endings to these tales are not always sweet or predictable, and self-deception is rarely rewarded, the lessons come down hard and are well learned.

Where to Buy

Interview

Can you tell us a little about yourself and your background?
I grew up in California, went to law school in Colorado, and now make my home in New York. My years of experience in criminal law inspired my legal mystery novels featuring prosecutor Dana Hargrove (Thursday’s List, Homicide Chart, and Forsaken Oath). I also love to write short stories, and Love and Crime includes my latest work. Another passion is dance—I’ve taught, performed, and choreographed contemporary styles and ballet.

What inspired you to write?
I have an active imagination in need of outlet! This is much better than TV.

What inspired your novel?
Love and Crime is a collection of short fiction, each story inspired by a different idea or event. For example, the opening story, “Rosemary and Reuben,” features characters who are challenged emotionally and physically by their heightened senses of smell and taste. The story was inspired by the fact that I’m extremely sensitive to smell.

What is the genre?
Literary short stories of psychological suspense.

What draws you to this genre?
Writing the short form is very satisfying for me because it fits a busy schedule. A complete work can be written quickly. I love language, and every word counts. It’s also a challenge to see how much depth of meaning and emotion can be conveyed in a short work.

How did you develop your plot and your characters?
The stories come to me as small ideas that hang around for weeks, months, or years, either at the back of my mind or on a scrap of paper. They develop gradually, as other events in my life add to the idea over time. At some point, I wake up and say, “I’m ready to write this one!”

What inspired your protagonist?
These eleven short stories feature many protagonists from different walks of life. I’m fascinated by situations involving self-deception or disillusionment. Each protagonist faces a unique challenge of this kind, developing to the point of crisis or leading to revelation and change.

What inspired your antagonist?
My antagonists are people or emotions or doubts that challenge the protagonist to act or change. I’m a big fan of ethical dilemma!

What was the hardest part to write in the book?
The hardest part, always, is the beginning. I tend to write and rewrite the opening lines of every story or novel many times.

What was your favourite part of your book to write?
For every story, the end. I become completely immersed. It’s exciting to reach a resolution or a lesson or a change in the character, and sometimes, the characters lead me to places I hadn’t anticipated.

Are you a full time or a part time writer? If part time, what do you do besides write?
Part time for now. I work for an appellate court, where I’m a supervising editor.

What are you currently reading?
To the Bright Edge of the World, by Eowyn Ivey, and Glory over Everything, by Kathleen Grissom.

Who would you say are your favourite authors?
In legal thrillers, Adam Mitzner. In literary fiction, Ian McEwan.

How about your favourite books? What would be your top 5?
Homestead, by Rosina Lippi; Atonement, by Ian McEwan; The Snow Child, by Eowyn Ivey; Bel Canto, by Ann Patchett; and Ladder of Years, by Anne Tyler

What are your future projects, if any?
I’m currently working on the fourth novel in the Dana Hargrove legal mystery series.

What is your preferred method for readers to get in touch with you and your books?
I can always be reached through the contact page on my website, www.vskemanis.com

Do you have any advice for aspiring authors?
If you love to write, persevere. Your craft will steadily improve. Take heed of Ernest Hemingway’s “Iceberg Theory” (sometimes less is more):

“If a writer of prose knows enough of what he is writing about he may omit things that he knows and the reader, if the writer is writing truly enough, will have a feeling of those things as strongly as though the writer had stated them. The dignity of movement of an iceberg is due to only one-eighth of it being above water. A writer who omits things because he does not know them only makes hollow places in his writing.”

1) Can you tell us a little about yourself and your background?
Sure! I’ve been writing stories since the age of nine; it seems there was always some of kind of tale playing out in my head, and I wanted to be an author from a young age. I pursued the dream from then on, taking writing classes or studying up on the elements of fiction. I also read voraciously. In college, I pursued Creative Writing as a major. About five years after graduating, I decided to finally try to publish a book. I am an indie author, in a sense, because I have self-published as well as used traditional publishing. In 2012, I was picked up by Solstice Publishing, and through them I released my first historical romance, Upon Your Return, book one of the Heiresses in Love Series. The rest, as they say, is history.

2) What inspired you to write?
The muse inspired me, the voices in my head, the characters that drove me to tell their stories.

3) What inspired your novel?
With Blue Vision, I wanted to tell an entirely new story, a different approach to meeting a stranger. Through some unusual circumstances in this tale, the main character encounters a mysterious man.

4) What is the genre?
The genre is science fiction romance.

5) What draws you to this genre?
Although I’ve always been drawn to the romance genre in most of its forms – at the core, we’re all human and I think we’re all meant to find that special person – I actually got to try something new with this novel. Blue Vision is my first published foray into sci-fi. I like playing around with unique characters; with this one, I just let my imagination soar. I had to think beyond the world we see.

6) How did you develop your plot and your characters?
Though one character isn’t exactly human, I had to try to make him relatable to readers. I think they’ll connect with his struggles. And with Brooke’s character, she’s a blend of various traits. She’s braver than she realizes. As for the plot, once I had the seed, it just exploded forward. I even found myself planning the second book in the series.

7) What inspired your protagonist?
As both main characters share the novel equally, I’ll address the question for them. With Colin, I just tried to imagine someone who reluctantly follows his people, though deep down I think readers will realize he isn’t exactly like them. As for Brooke, she evolved on her own. I began with her speech patterns, her mannerisms, delved into her history, then discovered even more about her in the process of writing the story.

8) What inspired your antagonist?
The antagonist in the book is a combination of elements that make up one main entity. I’d say I just imagined the most power-hungry people in the world, changed a few things and went on from there.

9) What was the hardest part to write in the book?
The hardest parts for me were the technical aspects, the sci-fi portion of the novel. Well, the advanced technology, you know? I didn’t want the book to sound juvenile. I had a friend who was a science fiction geek, and he gave me some really good advice. “Use your imagination; that will take you all the way…” So, after I got over my initial anxieties, I let the story and the characters speak for themselves.

10) What was your favourite part of your book to write?
My favorite part? Ooh, that’s a tough one. I’m divided between what it was like to write about an alien as a male character (would I have said ‘no’ if a strange blue, sexy man kissed me?…ah, probably not), or just writing about his home planet, imagining the way his world looked. That was actually pretty fun!

11) Are you a full time or a part time writer? If part time, what do you do besides write?
I write part-time for now. When I’m not writing, I do two things. I am a designer at Ambrosia Innovations, where I design book covers, graphic teasers, social media banners, and make book trailers/marketing videos. The rest of the time? I work at a call center.

12) What are you currently reading?
I’m reading Lover Enshrined by J.R. Ward.

13) Who would you say are your favourite authors?
Among others, a few of my favorites are J.R. Ward, Nora Roberts, Chloe Neill, Kris Tualla and P.C. Cast.

14) How about your favourite books? What would be your top 5?
1. The Black Dagger Brotherhood Series by J.R. Ward
2. The Chicagoland Vampires Series by Chloe Neill
3. The House of Night Series by P.C. Cast
4. The Discreet Gentlemen Series by Kris Tualla
5. Three Sisters Island Trilogy by Nora Roberts

15) What are your future projects, if any?
Right now, I’m editing a contemporary romance/romantic drama collection, which is titled Directions of the Heart. I hope to have that out in early 2017. I am also writing the second book in the Blood at First Sight Series. It’s called Blood Instincts, and the novel is a futuristic paranormal romance/urban fantasy.

17) Do you have any advice for aspiring authors?
Patience is a big thing to remember. The journey is rough, and it will take as long as it takes. However, if you want this bad enough, if you wake up and most days all you can think about is when you can get back to writing, if the story and the characters guide you, then don’t worry. You have a good handle on what’s important. Be persistent with your dreams, and be patient. At least have a nice balance between the two, and you’ll come out the other side published and working on a lifetime writing career. Think about it like you’re launching a new business. It takes time and effort, but in the end you’ll be rewarded in numerous ways, the most imperative being that you preserved your dream and saw it through.

I’ve always lived in New Jersey, except during a four-year stint at James Madison University and a few years living Manhattan. I transitioned from South Jersey to North Jersey after college and never moved back I had studied music to be a film score composer but ended up working in the music business before graduating from law school. I published a handful of newspaper articles and scholarly works about entertainment and intellectual property law issues. I married my lovely wife in 1998 and we now have one house, two cars and four children. After twenty years of practicing law, I knew it was time to try something new, and well, here I am.

What inspired you to write?

I had–what I thought–was this compelling idea for a story percolating inside my head for more than a couple of years prior to ever putting pen to paper. The Song of Ice and Fire series showed me how to write from multiple POVs, which was the way I wanted to tell this story. However, it was my teen aged daughter who ultimately encouraged me to dive head first into it. It happened right after Christmas day in 2013, when I told her about my plot idea which she adored.

What inspired your novel?

I’m a big fan of nostalgic spy shows from the 1960s, so I wanted to bring some elements of those into my story. One particular quote by Shalom Alechem that lamented the fact that “all scientists do is sell their ideas to murders”.

What is the genre?

I’m touting this as an espionage thriller. But actually, I first thought about this as chick lit! Yes, you heard that right. I front-loaded this tale with so many female characters, I would have liked nothing better than to market it to women. After the first draft, I even had to add male characters to balance it out, having ignored those guys’ character development altogether. I mean, a major plot point exposes the cosmetics industry so it makes sense. However, the dark and militaristic elements of the plot pulled me back to the y chromosome side. So I’d have to say that it’s an espionage/military/psychological/ urban thriller all rolled up into one.

What draws you to this genre?

I revel in all the betrayal, cat and mouse games and slights of hand that occur in these stories. The challenge for a new writer is to make all of these elements feel fresh, rather than like just another cliché.

How did you develop your plot and your characters?

During the initial stage, I focused on two or three critical scenes between the two primary female characters in the story, then built all the other characters, plot and subplots around them. While writing about the characters, I had specific Hollywood actors in mind for most of them.

What inspired your protagonist?

It’s funny you should ask that, because in the story’s original conception, the chemist herself, was the lead protagonist. However, after the first draft, I decided that Daniel Strong should be the primary one, mainly because I felt he would have more sequel potential than any other character.

What inspired your antagonist?

The question really is: which one are you talking about? There are several antagonists in this story who give Daniel trouble, but each one shifts in importance as the plot progresses. So let’s go through them. First, there is Sabir, who I wanted to be “Middle Eastern”, but not an Islamic Terrorist ala ISIS. This was my goal in making him a terrorist with a specific goal, one who had a legitimate beef with a people/country: Israel. Vanessa is a mashup of a few female bosses I’ve had throughout my career. Of course, none of them were as awful as she was, except maybe… . And then there is Joanne, another boss of a different kind. With her, I looked to other male versions of characters in her position from other spy novels I have had the pleasure of reading.

What was the hardest part to write in the book?

Romantic encounters and dialogue to go with it were challenging, to be sure. Mostly it was my attempt to attain an acceptable level of authenticity with the subject of chemistry, as well as in the military chapters that took the most extensive research to get right. I hope I came close.

What was your favourite part of your book to write?

I enjoyed a certain chase on foot chapter that took place underground in the Times Square subway station, an endless maze of tunnels and multiple levels and platforms that I’m most familiar with. The inspiration of this scene is two-fold. First, I had always adored the Audrey Hepburn/Carey Grant movie, Charade, where he chases her through a Paris Metro station. I wanted to attain that level of intensity in the prose. Second, I made a self- imposed pledge to my daughter that I would work in a subway station chase chapter. After all, it is New York City.

Are you a full time or a part time writer? If part time, what do you do besides write?

Part-time for now. Raising four children and practicing law require a significant time commitment.

What are you currently reading?

The Tomb, by F. Paul Wilson. Next, I’ll move on to The Assassination Complex by Jeremy Scahill. Then, I’ll read The Count of Monte Christo by Alexandre Dumas. I always like to sprinkle in an old classic or a comtemporary work that’s outside the thriller genre, like YA or middle grade stuff my kids are reading.

Who would you say are your favourite authors?

I consciously avoid reading too many books by any one author, for fear of starting to write like them.

How about your favourite books? What would be your top 5?

The Godfather
War and Peace
To Kill a Mockingbird
Storm of Swords (book three of The Song of Ice and Fire series)
The Patient

What are your future projects, if any?

I’m on to writing the second and third installments of the Daniel Strong trilogy. Meanwhile, I’m also drafting a screenplay for The Chemist. I also have an idea for another trilogy about an FBI agent in the future who has to deal with an international assassin as well as her own addiction of an unusual kind.

What is your preferred method for readers to get in touch with you and your books?

Email is best for now: contact@alanjfieldbooks.com or through goodreads.com

Do you have any advice for aspiring authors?

Learn about and utilize all the tools out there on how to promote yourself and your book, start your own publishing company, write what you like, and never, ever give up. It is so worth it!

Can you tell us a little about yourself and your background?I am a writer, an internationally represented and a published author, a poet, playwright, speaker and voice-over artist.I currently stay in where I was born and raised—Lagos, Nigeria

What inspired you to write?The happenings around me and in general, as portrayed by the media, all happenings around the world

What inspired your novel?The success motivation from being involved with the underworld activities to being a great benefit upon mankind inspired the book, ‘Maya Initiate 39: The Long Walk To Destiny’

What is the genre?‘Maya Initiate 39: The Long Walk To Destiny’ is a cross-genre of fiction interests: Fantasy, Young adult, Contemporary, Urban andThriller

What draws you to this genre?Various life situations in the form of stories

How did you develop your plot and your characters?I thought of the happening in my ‘head’ like a movie being watched and through creativity, I was able to pen it down—the conceptualizations of the plot and characters.

What inspired your protagonist?The need to discover who she, Maya, really was

What inspired your antagonist?Craig’s awkward background. He was the most active antagonist

What was the hardest part to write in the book?Getting to the climax of it, The Long Walk To Destiny, having established ‘Maya Initiate 39’

What was your favourite part of your book to write?The protagonist formative years

Are you a full time or a part time writer? If part time, what do you do besides write?I’m a part-time writer. Speaking and voice-overs are my other endeavors

What are you currently reading?The Three Musketeers by Alex Dumas

Who would you say are your favourite authors?John Grisham
JK Rowling
Stephen King
William Shakespeare

How about your favourite books? What would be your top 5?

The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown

The 360 Leader by John C Maxwell

The Art of War by Tsung Zu

Harry Potter by JK Rowling

The Art of the Deal by Donald Trump

What are your future projects, if any?

Currently working on a project that would encompass all human endeavours—-known and the ones to come as having one name—Engi(O)sophy. This would be aimed at changing the perception of people about what they are already familiar with towards creating a better appreciation and more reliable ways to tackling problems. More of this still to come!

What is your preferred method for readers to get in touch with you and your books?Readers can get in touch with me via my email address at: mrbenisreal@gmail.com

(Grins) Well, the literary industry is a sentiment-driven one. Your book being accepted for publication doesn’t mean you’re a prolific writer (vice versa).As an aspiring author, prepare your mind for countless rejections. See it as part of the process of being an eventual success in the authoring venture. Keep improving your writing skill and more important, take heed to Winston Churchill’s words ”Never, Never, Never, Never, Never, Never Give Up!”

I’m the son of Holocaust survivors and grew up in Brooklyn and New Jersey. In high school I performed in musicals and became a football “hero” winning the Homecoming Day game with a 65-yard touchdown. I’ve enjoyed a varied career in the arts—acting on stage, appearing in films, and even doing performance art on the streets of New York. While producing television in Los Angeles, I created a new cable network, The Game Channel, the precursor to GSN (the Game Show Network). I’ve also written several books.

What inspired you to write?

Probably my family’s story of surviving the Nazis during the Holocaust. In 6th grade while others in my class did “show & tells” about “How to ski slalom” or “How to bake a strawberry shortcake,” I did a “show & tell” about “How 5 People Were Buried Alive for 9 Months.” My parents’ horrific experience ignited my imagination—what did they do all those months while they were hiding from the Nazis? What would I do? How did 5 people stay sane buried alive in a space as a big as a large walk-in closet for nearly a year? In high school I tried to write a play about it. That was my first attempt to explore through writing what to me was a very provocative “what if?”

What inspired your novel?

Many years ago I had a dream about sex. This wasn’t your typical “wet dream” but rather a mind-blowing dream like the kind the biblical Jacob had about angels ascending and descending a ladder to heaven. In my dream, the angels were having sex!

The French philosopher, Teilhard de Chardin, conveyed something of the awe-inspiring majesty of my dream when he wrote, “Some day, after we have mastered the winds, the waves, the tides and gravity…we shall harness…the energies of love. Then, for the second time in the history of the world, man will have discovered fire.” When I woke up from that dream, I felt I’d been graced with a vision that I needed to share with the world. But life intervened.

After the death of my wife, Joy, a remarkable thing happened—she began communicating with me from the Afterlife and led me on an incredible journey to heal my grief which I wrote about in my memoir, JOYride: How My Late Wife Loved Me Back to Life (which won an eLit Award—silver medal for Best Spiritual/Inspirational Digital Book of 2011). Ultimately, like the final scene in the movie, Ghost, she found someone—a willing medium—through whom she literally loved me back to life. Had I not experienced it myself, I wouldn’t have believed it possible. Those sacred, sexual, supernatural encounters, which I call the Rites of Joy, occurred ten times during that year and helped heal my inconsolable grief. During these other-worldly sexual initiations, I was shown some of the secrets of human sexuality.

What is the genre?

On the back cover of The Secret Sex Life of Angels it says FICTION / FANTASY / PARANORMAL. However, Amazon considers it also ROMANCE / EROTICA.

It’s difficult to categorize since it’s all about sex and sexuality, but it’s not porn or meant to be erotic. Actually, whether it’s erotic or not is in the eye and body of the beholder, I guess.

What draws you to this genre?

Freedom.

My previous novel ULTRA BOWL was a sci-fi story about football, robots and time-travel which explores the dangers of our Digital Age and the dystopian future towards which we may be heading. I guess I’m drawn to sci-fi & fantasy because it allows me the freedom to explore all the “what ifs?” that intrigue me. In The Secret Sex Life of Angels I quote the philosopher J. B. S. Haldane, “The world is not only stranger than we suppose, it is stranger than we can suppose.”

How did you develop your plot and your characters?

In 1998, at the time of President Bill Clinton’s sex scandal, I was struggling—after several false starts that ended in shredded frustration—to find the right “story” for my dream about sex. During the hysteria of the Clinton sex scandal, my wife, Joy, and I wanted to protest the sexual-political insanity that had overtaken the country. We decided to fight sexual hypocrisy with sexual fantasy!

What if, as an act of political theater protesting the hypocrisy of the investigation, we actually confessed to having sex with President Clinton? And what if we created a petition of fantasy “confessions” and handed them over to the Independent Counsel investigating the President? And so the “I Had Sex With Clinton, Too!” petition was born. We launched a primitive website and sent out a press release—“New Political Website Invites Public to Have Sex with the President to Save the USA!” The media picked it up and the confessions started rolling in—at first a trickle, then a stream and ultimately a flood—nearly a thousand in all.

As the “I Had Sex With Clinton, Too!” petition grew, I wanted to write a “confession,” too. But I wanted my confession to offer another way to look at sex. If not a heavenly perspective, then perhaps an off-world one. So I wrote the SeX-FILES (this was the late ‘90’s!) as a “confession” from a female intelligence officer, who violates her oath of secrecy to exonerate President Clinton by revealing the details of our secret contact with Extraterrestrials. She describes how she (along with others, perhaps even Monica Lewinsky) was trained by the ETs to “deploy the President’s antenna” and “sing the song” that would put him in contact with the ETs whenever he sought their counsel. Unfortunately, this ET communication technique resembled a “blowjob.”

The story of the petition and a sampling of the X-rated confessions can be found in my recently released book, IT’S THE SEX, STUPID! (available on Amazon).

When I finally returned to my novel, I realized I’d found my “story.” It was about a newly-elected president (no, he doesn’t have contact with ETs) who discovers that to fulfill his oath of office he must embark on a sexual odyssey that could determine the fate of the world.

What inspired your protagonist?

The possibility of saving the world.

What inspired your antagonist?

The “antagonist” is an elemental mystery.

What was the hardest part to write in the book?

Sex is one of the most difficult things to write about. We have so many assumptions and there is such a charge to sexual words, and of course, there’s so much unacknowledged shame. It’s especially difficult when you’re trying to write about sex in a way that hasn’t been written about before.

What was your favourite part of your book to write?

The sexual initiations which constitute the 2nd half of the book. In these initiations I was able to begin to communicate what I’d witnessed in my dream and what I learned during the Rites of Joy.

Are you a full time or a part time writer? If part time, what do you do besides write?

I’m a full time writer…but I do other things: I give workshops at bereavement conferences around the country (since I’ve written about healing from grief), and I co-lead a bereavement camp at the end of August for people who’ve lost a loved one.

Oneida: From Free Love Utopia to the Well-Set Table by Ellen Wayland-Smith

The Marriage of Opposites by Alice Hoffman

The Story of Alice by Robert Douglas-Fairhurst

Seveneves: A Novel by Neal Stephenson

A Natural History of the Senses by Diane Ackerman

Watership Down by Richard Adams

H Is for Hawk by Helen Macdonald

American Veda: From Emerson and the Beatles to Yoga and Meditation How Indian Spirituality Changed the West by Philip Goldberg, Huston Smith

Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari

One Thousand White Women: The Journals of May Dodd by Jim Fergus

The Glass Cage: How Our Computers Are Changing Us by Nicholas Carr

The Bees: A Novel by Laline Paull

Who would you say are your favourite authors?

I have a problem answering questions about “favorite.” I love many authors, among them: Tom Robbins, Paul Coelho, Nikos Kazantzakis, and many others.

How about your favourite books? What would be your top 5?

Some books that I’ve loved: The Last Temptation of Christ, Shogun, Clan of the Cave Bear, The Alchemist….

What are your future projects, if any?

I’m finishing book 2 & 3 in The Secret Sex Life of Angels series.

What is your preferred method for readers to get in touch with you and your books?

Readers can visit my website (which I’m proud to say I did all by myself) www.IJWeinstock.com They can visit my Amazon Author’s page. I haven’t figured out Goodreads yet (and would appreciate any help). And, of course, they can write me at dreamasterbooks@gmail.com.

I’d love to hear from readers. I wrote The Secret Sex Life of Angels to inspire a sexual evolution. To put it in contemporary tech jargon—we’re running factory-installed sexual OS programs that have religious bugs and cultural viruses, not to mention shame-based malware. The Secret Sex Life of Angels will make people realize that a sexual upgrade is available and inspire them to discover the possibilities of their own sexuality. It’s just the beginning and reader response and future community will have a great impact.

Do you have any advice for aspiring authors?

It’s something I was told many years ago in a writing class and has helped me when I felt “stuck” or “overwhelmed” with the task ahead of me. The instructor asked how many of us could write a postcard. Everyone raised their hands. Then the instructor said, “Just write a postcard a day. If you do, you’ll have 365 postcards at the end of the year. That’s almost a book.” It’s about consistency, write daily even just a postcard worth. And make it a habit, like brushing your teeth. And don’t try to write “good,” write fast and just get it down. You’re going to re-write many, many times. Keep Writing! Keep Dreaming! Keep Believing!

My name is Francis Mills. I grew up in the Eastern Mediterranean island of Cyprus (former British Colony). I have mostly Northern English ancestry. I have dark blonde hair and brown eyes and I like cats.

What inspired you to write?

All the 80’s and 90’s cartoons I watched when I was a kid.

What inspired your novel?

All the 80’s and 90’s cartoons I watched as a kid and a need to escape from the constraints of this reality.

The first prototypes I created didn’t include character names. I just used generic names like Hero, Sorcerer, Hot Babe, Dinosaur, Wizard. I slowly made the characters more individual and eventually started naming them.

The plot once again stemmed from the characters. There is a clear division between good and evil characters. The clash between the two in all shapes and forms creates the plot for my books.

What inspired your protagonist?

As you may guess, my protagonist, Xanthus, is actually me, but he can do everything I want to do and can’t because of the constraints of this world.

What inspired your antagonist?

The antagonist again is a form of me, but he embodies my evil thoughts and desires. He was also created as the antithesis to Xanthus.

What was the hardest part to write in the book?

The hardest part is finding the right methods to create. The first book I typed straight into the computer. Then for the second and third I wrote them by hand and then types them into the computer. By the time I wrote the fourth book I further split the chapters into scenes. I really think that the fourth book is an advancement over the first three. The flow and pacing is vastly improved.

What was your favourite part of your book to write?

I especially enjoy the sex scenes and the violence scenes.

Are you a full time or a part time writer? If part time, what do you do besides write?

Right now it’s full time. The other thing I do and love is jogging and running.

What are you currently reading?

The last book I read was Fire And Ice(Icefire trilogy) Book 1 by Patty Jensen.

You can find the book review on my webpage.

Who would you say are your favourite authors?

The team who wrote the ‘Transformers’ cartoon, the ‘He-Man cartoon’, the ‘Thundercats’ cartoon, the ‘X-Men’ cartoon. As for individual authors; Robert E.Howard who wrote the ‘Conan’ series and also Marion Zimmer Bradley who wrote the ‘Mists Of Avalon’.

How about your favourite books? What would be your top 5?

I’ll give you my five favourite movies instead:

1. Transformers 1986 Cartoon Movie

2. He-Man And The Masters Of The Universe 1987 Movie

3. Terminator 2 (1991 movie)

4. Back To The Future 2 (1989 movie)

5. Hackers (1995 movie)

What are your future projects, if any?

The Adventures Of Xanthus – Book 5

Look out for it on Amazon

What is your preferred method for readers to get in touch with you and your books?

Yeah. Writing a book is only the beginning. The promotion is difficult. Make sure you keep promoting your book in every way possible. Interivews, reviews, socialising. If you don’t keep promoting your books they will die.

Genre: Short Story, PoemsPublisher: Life List PressPublication Date: September 17, 2016Pages: 242 pagesAdd to Good Reads

Can you tell us a little about yourself and your background?

Sure, I’m from a small town but I spent summers at a family cottage on Long Island. That balance of having a very poor rural upbringing with a few weeks each year on a private beach taught me more than anything about the breadth of privilege and opportunity in this world. I also randomly joined the army once, which really developed my understanding of more a more conservative point of view. This culture is so divided right now. It’s painful to witness. I’ve also worked in an area of Chicago called Back of the Yards, about six blocks from an AK-47 shooting on a playground. We must find ways to communicate clearly, peacefully.

What inspired you to write?
The Brothers Karamazov, my mother, my grandmother who took classes from Robert Frost

What inspired your novel?
This is a collection of short works. It is the culmination of a series that began as a joke on Facebook. I was making fun of Kindle books in 2010 and a friend challenged me to write one. Another friend said I couldn’t just call it Nath’s Kindle Bundle Number 1, to see how the IT side worked with the reflowable content on these new devices. So, right then in a mess of a thread of comments with friends from high school, the On Impulse series began.

What is the genre?
Literary fiction

What draws you to this genre?
The truth, the beauty, the inescapable nature of reality, the striving, the pain, the suffering, the hope, the will, the humanity, and the life

How did you develop your plot and your characters?
I’m still getting my footing with plot. It’s so simple on a diagram but very complex to make happen on the page. Characters, omg. Characters insist upon revelation. So I just sit back, meld into the space–the setting–and let them do their thing, transcribe what I can.

What was the hardest part to write in the book?
The hardest story to write in the series was, “How to Cherish the Grief-Stricken“. I don’t think it made the cut for this book. It’s in Acquainted with Squalor.

What was your favourite part of your book to write?
“Hollace and Some Girl” is pretty funny and everyone’s favorite.

Are you a full time or a part time writer? If part time, what do you do besides write?
Full time, but I also have another full time job as a clinical intervention pharmacist.

What are you currently reading?The Melville-Hawthorne Connection: A Study of the Literary Friendship by Erik Hage

The Glass Blowers by Daphne du Maurier

City of Thorns by Ben Rawlence

Evicted: Property and Profit in The American City by Matthew Desmond

American Gospel: God, the Founding Fathers, and the Making of a Nation by Jon Meacham

The People in the Trees by Hanya Yanagihara

and Deep Down Dark by Hector Tobar

Who would you say are your favourite authors?
John McPhee, Henry Miller (though I sort of hate to admit it), and Fyodor Dostoyevsky, who really doesn’t make it fair for any of the rest of us.

How about your favourite books? What would be your top 5?
The Rainbow by D.H. Lawrence

For Whom the Bell Tolls by Ernest Hemingway

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer

Anything–make that everything by John McPhee

And Lauren Groff’s Delicate Edible Birds and Other Stories

What are your future projects, if any?
I’m working on the third draft of a novel about a woman who runs up against herself and two great loves.

What is your preferred method for readers to get in touch with you and your books?
My personal Facebook page is pretty much open season and everyone is welcome. For those who’d like a little more decorum, there’s the author site.

Do you have any advice for aspiring authors?
Write

Nath Jones
Best New American Voices nominee Nath Jones received an MFA in creative writing from Northwestern University. Her publishing credits include PANK Magazine, There Are No Rules, and Sailing World. She lives and writes in Chicago.

Avalon is a moral tale of a young boy named Alex whose father (George Harrison) invents a way to communicate telepathically by decoding brainwaves and using the internet as an interface. Unaware of how powerful this device is or how people will use it Alex’s father creates a balanced group involving twelve of the most eclectic people on earth simply as an experiment to see if this device can help the world, or if it will destroy it. Armed now with vast knowledge and infinite wisdom Alex and his father set off on a wild adventure to initiate these extreme characters into their world of omnipotent power and intelligence. Along the way they find secret treasures, and hidden secrets both wonderful, and terrible, but the biggest and most terrible secret of them all, nobody could have ever fathomed. The Earth is now heading towards certain destruction and only Alex and his father with the help of a very special friend have figured out how to save it. Unfortunately to know this secret carries with it a great and terrible price. Unable to keep running Alex and his father take refuge in one of the most secret places on Earth, a place known only as Avalon.

Interview:

Can you tell us a little about yourself and your background?

I don’t like to talk about my merits or accomplishments but, I will say, that I’m 40 years old, I’m retired from working 20 years in manufacturing. My passion is science, I’m known as a very open minded sceptic. I tend to focus on those extraordinary things which have extraordinary evidence which people have a difficult time understanding the evidence. So I often say things which seem too fantastic to believe, but if you look deeper, you’ll see I’m absolutely not joking. I am usually a serious person, who is rarely taken seriously, but I do joke around too and when I joke around I’m often joking about those things which seem normal, common, and expected to most people, but I see something different; hoping that those I’m kidding around with will look again. And I suppose I do all this to help people know that there is always another side of the story, no matter how certain they are of their understanding of the situation, there is more to it. The best way to describe me as a person I think would be a character in a Dr. Seuss book. I may seem eccentric or strange but there is an important message hidden behind everything I say and what I do; so don’t ever take any of it at face value, as there is much more to understand, just keep digging.

What inspired you to write?

I’ve spent the bulk of my life trying to understand people and the world we live in and though I’ve learned an incredible amount of information, facts, and statistics, I feel I have failed to truly understand other people. This of course was my driving force behind writing this book, to study these characters, characters in which I think we all know; and then try to understand them more intimately. To know who they are, under the surface, to know what they like, what they need, what they will do, and of course how they feel. I want to answer that age old question ‘Why.’

What inspired your novel?

This book of course was not just for my own benefit, but I have an important story to tell, a story no one else could tell, a story which may never be told again, but is an important story to understand, it’s a true story fictionalized in an abstract way; to protect all those who may be a part of this ‘group.’ But I think after reading the many secrets of our world through the ages I began to realize that there is an epic story to tell, a story which is shrouded in compartmentalized secrecy and nearly impossible to understand or even piece together if you could, thus for most people researching it all is just going to waste. And I think that this is what inspired my novel more than anything. Helping people understand the world in which they do not see or understand.

What is the genre?

Science fiction/Action/Adventure

What draws you to this genre?

I enjoy exploring the moral parables of other environments, on different worlds, and in alternate realities. I think it’s the moral of a story which often becomes the crucial factor in a story, not just the plot or story. Writing fiction opens a window or should I say a doorway to infinite possibilities to explore, learn, and grow from. I think fiction is good for both the mind and the soul.

How did you develop your plot and your characters?

This plot is shall we say an abstract expression of our modern world we live in. The characters thus were to be an expression of all of us, an expression of our greed, our generosity, our thoughts and feelings. These characters both represent different sides to each of us individually, and real people in our world as well who have focused their (Love) energy in very specific ways.

I wanted this book to be a story about each of us, something we can all relate to, and a reflection of our world we share together. I have noticed for many years by reading comments people make in the news; stories about people who did something extreme or out of the ordinary, and each person would comment how awful that person is or wonderful they are, but typically it’s a very negative opinion I’ve found. And I realized that most people lack both empathy, and understanding of others. I think it’s always bothered me and I’ve always wanted to find a way in which I can show people that we are all those same people inside, and we always think in our minds that we could never do such a thing, good or bad, but the truth is we could, and have. We may have a higher level of spiritual maturity, but what did it take to obtain this level of maturity? I wanted to show that in the end we are all the same people experiencing different expressions of the same life, and thus we are never alone, and we truly are all one, and we are really only judging and hurting ourselves when we judge or hurt one another.

What inspired your protagonist?

I needed someone each and every one could relate with, thus the protagonist (Alex) in this story is simply a reflection of how we all see ourselves typically.

What inspired your antagonist?

Each character in this book represents how we see other people, we tend to view others very bluntly; we focus on a few of the more extreme things we see them do, and then we label them as such, thus becoming the antagonists in our lives.

What was the hardest part to write in the book?

Having so many characters; I’d definitely say establishing these characters in the quickest ‘to the point’ way I could find, and which still allows the reader to understand who they are without losing focus on the main character Alex.

What was your favorite part of your book to write?

For me it was the end climax, and I think each of us will at some point in our lives feel as though; well during those times when we experience so much resistance and we have gone through so much trouble to get to where we want to be, and we feel like the whole world is against us, our fight or flight mechanism kicks in and we try to run away, but we can’t seem to get away from it, so we turn around and we just fight with everything we have. We kind of go into this ‘Nothing matters anymore, but our survival’ mode and we find ourselves doing things we never could have imagined doing, but somehow it just feels so good to unleash this beast building up inside, and you know that you can’t stop now, you’ve come too far, you have to see this through no matter the cost. The end thus becomes a gratuitous thing to both write and to read.

Who would you say are your favorite authors?

Fyodor Dostoyevsky

Paulo Coelho

Leo Tolstoy

Charles Dickens

And of course Ernest Hemingway.

How about your favorite books? What would be your top 5?

The Sun Also Rises

Ubik

Invisible Man

Of Human Bondage

And perhaps ‘Kim’

What are your future projects, if any?

I am planning to finish the Avalon Trilogy which will likely consume the next decade, beyond that is up to the gods.

What is your preferred method for readers to get in touch with you and your books?

To be a great writer one must first understand that there is no fame, money, glory, or praise involved with being a writer. You will be chastised, ridiculed, demonized, and criticized by everyone including your friends and family with everything you write. You will spend countless hours and days, and spend entire fortunes getting a book published when few if anybody will ever get time to ever read it. If you understand this truth and you still feel compelled to write; well then you are well on your way to becoming a great writer.

Second; it’s all about the story, be unique, try not plagiarize, and decide if you really have something new to offer readers.

Third; decide what it is that inspired you to write, and outline how this can also inspire your readers.

Fourth; understand that your book will never be perfect, no matter how many times you rewrite it or how many editors were used. It will always have flaws or things that can be improved and if you’re a perfectionist, you’ll never be happy.